FISH AND
WILDLIFE SERVICE WILL NOT CONDUCT REVIEW TO CONSIDER LISTING THE DEBEQUE
MILKVETCH

The U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has reviewed a petition seeking to add the DeBeque
milkvetch, a perennial plant found in western Colorado, to the federal
list of threatened and endangered species and concluded available
information does not contain substantial scientific information indicating
such protection may be warranted.

The Service made this
determination in response to a petition received in October 2004 from the
Center for Native Ecosystems and the Colorado Native Plant Society to list
the DeBeque milkvetch as a threatened or endangered species under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The DeBeque milkvetch (Astragalus
debequaeus), a member of the pea family, is found at elevations
between 4,970 and 6,500 feet in Mesa and Garfield counties in Colorado.
Its habitat is the fine-textured, sandy clay soils of the Atwell Gulch
portion of the Wasatch Formation. The plants are clump-forming with a
woody taproot, 5 to 12-inch stems, and white upright flowers.

Of the 17 known plant populations, 14 are found near
the town of DeBeque, Colorado in Mesa County; 12 of these populations
occur mostly on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands and two on private
lands. The remaining three populations are located in Garfield County at
the base of the Roan Plateau near the town of Rifle, Colorado; two are
mostly on BLM lands and one is on private land.

“The Service will
continue to work with the Bureau of Land Management to protect and monitor
the known populations of the DeBeque milkvetch,” said Mitch King, the
Service’s Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region. “We encourage
interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these
conservation efforts.”

The petition claims the
DeBeque milkvetch is impacted by oil and gas development, oil shale
mining, coalbed methane development and/or coal mining, noxious weeds and
seeding, existing and projected roads, livestock trampling, off-road
vehicle use, and increased housing development. In making this finding,
the Service evaluated whether information presented by petitioners and in
our files documenting impacts from these and other factors was substantial
enough to indicate that listing may be warranted.

The petition cites
habitat degradation as a result of energy development activities and lack
of regulatory oversight by the BLM as the main factors affecting DeBeque
milkvetch populations. Since the petition was submitted in 2004, the BLM
has taken additional measures to conserve the plants within potential oil
and gas development areas and has withheld some areas from oil and gas
leasing. The BLM has conducted new surveys as part of the review process
for drilling permit applications and grazing allotment renewals. The
agency has also added standard lease stipulations and controlled-use
stipulations to new oil and gas leases. Monitoring is being implemented
to assess the effectiveness of these measures in minimizing impacts to the
plant as additional development occurs within its habitat.

On the basis of the
review, the Service finds that information provided in the petition as
well as other currently available information does not present substantial
scientific information indicating listing the DeBeque milkvetch as
threatened or endangered may be warranted. The Service’s review of the
available information also indicates that the DeBeque milkvetch appears to
be maintaining its presence in known locations throughout its range.

The ESA provides for
citizens to petition the Service to take listing actions, including adding
species to the lists of threatened and endangered wildlife and plants as
well as removing species from the lists. The Service is required to make a
90-day finding on whether the petition presents substantial information
that the petitioned action may be warranted.

This finding was
prepared pursuant to a court-approved settlement resulting from a lawsuit
filed against the Service by the petitioners.

This finding is
available on the Internet at http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving,
protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the
95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545
national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special
management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery
resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency
enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act,
manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant
fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and
helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their
conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program,
which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on
fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.